The Inhumans are currently in purgatory. They’re isolated in the city of Attilan on the Blue Side of the Moon while the Avengers, the Guardians of the Galaxy, and the X-Men take care of business in the comics, and their film prospects are stuck in a studio indecision grey area in the real world. But that probably won’t be the case forever. Marvel has been teasing at an Inhumans film for a while now, and Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige recently confirmed that Inhumans will “happen for sure.”
Inhumans was originally set to be a part of Marvel’s Phase Three, which we are currently working our way through. It started with Captain America: Civil War this spring and will end with the second half of Avengers: Infinity Wars in 2019, mixing in Black Panther, Captain Marvel, and some much-anticipated sequels to boot. Inhumans was cut from Phase Three due to overcrowding, and then bumped from 2019 altogether by Disney to, reportedly, make way for the fifth Indiana Jones. Disney simply had too much going on in its ever-expanding empire.
But Feige told SlashFilm: “I think Inhumans will happen for sure. I don’t know when. I think it’s happening on television. And I think as we get into Phase 4 as I’ve always said, it could happen as a movie. I think it would be super cool.”
Black Bolt, king of the Inhumans
A race of genetically altered humans, the Inhumans were created by the Kree, a war-mongering race of blue-skinned aliens (of which Ronan the Accuser is a part of in Guardians of the Galaxy) several millennia ago. The Inhumans were originally meant to be used as an army against the Kree Empire’s enemy, the Skrull. But — for reasons unknown — the Kree abandoned their experiments, and the Inhumans built their own culture, eventually settling on the oxygen-bearing Blue Side of the Moon in the city of Attilan.
For centuries, the Inhumans kept to themselves and maintained a strict caste system. But recent events in the Marvel Universe has the Inhumans (specifically, the royal family) interacting with the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, and the X-Men.
The whole gang works together from time to time.
An Inhumans film would most likely explore the lives of the royal family — King Black Bolt, who has the power to destroy planets with his voice; his wife, Queen Medusa, with her indestructible, mind-controlled hair (which is more badass than it sounds); and their various cousins and siblings. The Inhumans’ powers come to life when they’re exposed to the Terrigen Mist, which brings forth any latent abilities they may have, but is deadly to non-Inhumans.
There have been rumors of Vin Diesel — who voices the beloved Groot in Guardians of the Galaxy — playing Black Bolt, though nothing’s been confirmed.
An Inhumans film would be a good place holder for genetically superpowered human beings for Marvel Studios. Fox owns the rights to the X-Men and Fantastic Four while Disney’s got a hold of the Avengers and Spider-Man, which is why Captain America has never had a bro-out with Professor X about the finer points of leadership and peaceful aggression.
So, while there may not be a firm date set by Disney and Marvel for an Inhumans film, don’t give up hope just yet.
